Description:
During the 2005 field regeneration in Ames, Iowa, the curator noted two distinct plant types among the plants grown from the original sample of Ames 21200. One type clearly fit Potentilla recta, agreeing with the collector. The second type, which forms this separation, was quite distinct and uniform and may represent an apomictic hybrid. Its highly branched inflorescences are made up of large numbers (30+) of small flowers with yellow petals only about 5 mm long. Its most unusual characteristic is its coarsely dentate basal leaves, which are mostly palmately 5-foliolate, with the central leaflets held on long petiolules. However, the most vigorous basal leaves have irregularly lobed central leaflets or even trifoliolate terminal segments, giving a leaf type that falls between palmately and pinnately compound.